1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus in which printing is performed while also transporting a recording medium;
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional image forming apparatus that employs LEDs or laser includes a paper feeding section that feeds pages of paper, image forming sections that form visible images on the pages of paper, a fixing unit that fixes the images to the paper, and a discharging unit that discharges printed paper after fixing. The respective image forming sections operates to advance the page of recording paper at slightly different speeds from one another, thereby ensuring stable print quality.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-179282 discloses one such image forming apparatus. The paper is advanced at increasing lower speed as the paper advances from upstream to downstream, thereby preventing the paper from being pulled excessively taut between adjacent image forming sections.
This image forming apparatus suffers from the following problems. When duplex printing is performed, the paper is not taut enough from when the fixing operation has completed until the paper reaches inversion rollers. Thus, the paper becomes skewed with respect to a transport path when paper is transported in the transport path. The paper is pulled in between the inversion rollers while remaining skewed. The skewed paper is then flipped over and transported further. This causes poor print quality of an image on the back surface of the paper.